MMA Fighting - On To The Next One | What's Next For Francis Ngannou? Plus Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 99

Episode Date: October 20, 2024

Francis Ngannou left no doubt that he’s still one of the best heavyweights in the world. The question is what will he do for his next act? After a resounding knockout of Renan Ferreira in the PFL Battle of the Giants main event, Ngannou appears to have numerous options ahead of him once again, with the MMA community welcoming him back with open arms and the boxing world still beckoning. Whatever the former UFC champion decides to do for his next fight, you can be sure everyone will be watching. On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss the possibilities for Ngannou after his emotional return to the cage. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for UFC Vegas 99 winner Anthony Hernandez following a dominant win over Michel Pereira, bantamweight veteran Rob Font after a streak-busting performance, plus main card winners Charles Johnson, Cameron Smotherman, Darren Elkins, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee  Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. The Matchmaking Crowns have returned following UFC Vegas 99, which capped off a double header of mixed martial arts action on Saturday. It was kicked off by the Professional Fighters League who put on the most important event of their short promotional history, Battle of the Giants in Saudi Arabia. Arabia. It was the return of lineal heavyweight champion Francis and Ghanu taking on Henan Faheda. And Francis Gano needed a little less than four minutes to dispose of the problema, takes him down, does a little wrestling, and then just pounds them out, knocks him unconscious with some brutal ground and pound. And then the emotions poured out for everybody to see. It was an

incredible moment. The MMA gods don't smile upon the good guys in this sport that often, but it's certainly happened for the former UFC heavyweight champion. We'll talk about that. Plus, we had UFC Vegas 99 and an unbelievable performance in the main event from one Anthony Fluffy Hernandez. We'll talk about what is next for him and the rest of the main card winners and more on today's show. I am Mike Kack. Thank you for joining us and joining me, always proud to be joined by the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, and my best darn friend in the whole world, Mr. Alexander K. Lee,

aka when we're matching Red Sox Red and feeling good on the Sunday morning. If only people could see us. If only people could see us right now, my best friend. Yes, we're feeling really good, man. It was a fun Saturday, I think. If you were watching, like, I think from the very first PFL prelim to the very last UFC Vegas fight, maybe, maybe it would have been a bit much,

because it wasn't like both cards were just bangers top to bottom. I thought both main cards, really fun for the most part, deliberate. Not like every fight was great, but if you just watched the main cards of both the PFL and VOC, you're doing okay. You had some good time, good drama, good back and forth fights, some decent highlights. The prelims, actually, I don't think I saw most of the PFL prelims. I did see the Vegas prelims. That was one of maybe one of the most dire set of prelums we've seen in some time.

The matchups were on paper were not particularly intriguing. And then in action, they also were not intriguing. I don't know if we want to. We don't need to go over everything that happened. But Austin Lane, first of all, Austin Lane, you're a hero. Or just remembering that you're a former, you know, defensive player, the professional football player. And like, you could just tackle people.

And that's what he did to Robiles. Just tackle them. why would anyone stand with rebels of Spain? We all know that the, I was to say the secret's out, but it was never a secret that like maybe the best thing to do is just take this very, very talented striker down. So, Austin Lane, your hero robbed Rob, Rob Shee and Al Shadi of any fantasy points in our in our fantasy league. I love that so much.

I love that. So as time was taking away, I was just like, should I message him now? Should I wait to the end? Not to jinx it. So I wait till the end. And so zero points for Robles to Spain. And then Alice Ardalenian getting another opportunity, not sure why. good for Milia Martinez. Good to see you back in there. It was just like not a great pre-11.

But main card, some really, really good fights. Alcon's pinied out. We talked about that more later. I thought the main event was like not a fight of the year, but very, you said, as you mentioned, very impressive for one Fluffy Hernandez. And then PFL, I know people were complaining that the fights didn't go to a finish, but I don't know what fights people were expecting to go to finish. I would not have expected Hughes McKee to to end inside the distance. I definitely wasn't expecting cyborg for Checo to knock the other one out. And I thought those fights were both really, really, really intriguing. Evelyn Edwards was, I mean, as pointless as people thought.

And, you know, I thought a decent performance for Evelyn, but not a fight we'll be talking about anytime soon. And then the drama of the main event, the drama, the action drama, the emotional drama, I thought it delivered. So overall, for MMA in general, a really good night. And a solid night for the PFL, Mike. You know, we keep saying how important the card was. this this this this card is not going to change their fortunes overnight but i think they got the results they needed for people to say like okay it was a success it was a success but this isn't like if people see highlights from this event that i think whoa i'm missing on the pfl like this is crazy i got to

tune in next time it's like okay pfl's still around they can still put on a decent show but um you know and that's fine that's that's fine there's nothing wrong with that show didn't need to change the world but it didn't like elevate uh the pfl to another level or anything yeah i on the post fight show and even at the end of the watch party, I gave this a B minus for Piafell. I think that's all. It could have been worse. By the time we got to Cyborg Pacheco,

it was a D plus. It was bad. Paul Hughes was a good story, but the tough thing for him is the bout order of that card just kind of ruined it. That should have been the second fight of the main card or even the third. You should have maybe just done Johnny Eppelin,

Fabian Edwards, like right out the gate, considering how that went. That was a tough fight to watch. Fifth round was cool. Cyborg Pacheco was an absolute. absolute banger. That was a great fight. Very good fight. And it saved the card. That is the, the low key MVP of maybe the entire

weekend was that fight because it needed to go down that way to save things from Slog City. Because people were feeling the effects of what this card was. They're like, oh man, we're going to have another slog fest with a PFL ator card. And it was certainly trending in that direction. And then seconds into Cyborg Pacheco, they started just whipping fastballs at each other. and the fight was just super fun. And then we had the great moment with Francis. I will say this. I'm going to pat myself on the back a little bit.

AK, you always tell people, never gamble on MMA. And when we have watch parties, when Jed asked me to come on his great program, no bets barred, I have to play the ponies. I can't just say things. I had by far my best betting day ever yesterday. It was friggin fantastic. The only bet, the only like true straight up bet that I had lost was AJ. McKee. Everything else was just like a weird sprinkle prop that I lost. Like I had Francis by

submission just for funzies at plus 1,500. I had to Spain round one finish at minus 150. And I had Charles Johnson by KOTKO. Every other bet I hit. I had my two biggest bets. This is going to be a stunner for you. Women's fights. Melissa Martinez was my biggest straight up bet of the entire day. I got her at minus 125. And I was like, what are we doing? I was shocking. How is that? How is that the line? I saw that line earlier this week.

And I'm like, I know she kind of disappointed in her debut, but one, that was a long time ago. And two, it just like anyone who watched that fight, it just felt like, like, we didn't see the best, like, Melissa Martinez. It was like, okay, we know she's better than that. And then add two years later, like two years off where I assume she's been training and recover, maybe recovering from some minor injuries and things like that. And I'm like, Alice Ardile. And like, I know she didn't completely poop the bed in her debut with, um, shock. to O'Bannon, like it went to a split call. So I guess that had people saying, like, maybe she's not as bad as we think.

And it's like, she's not particularly good. And I still have a lot of hopes for Martinez as a prospect. So I was surprised earlier this week when I saw I was hovering like minus 125, minus 150 only. I was like, wow. Where is this faith? Where is this faith in Ardalen coming from? Wow. Wow.

So I hit, I hit Martinez big at minus 125. I hit the over two and a half parlay and all the women's fights. Shout to Jocelyn Edwards for getting the finish after the two and a half. Yes, yes. respect to her. So that was pretty damn good. That was, I think, my biggest bet of the day. So those cash, and no matter what happened the rest of the day, it was going to be

a profitable weekend. Hit the Alma Beah by Decision Prop. I hit Rob Font at plus 330. I was very excited about that. Chris Cyborg, I got a plus 140. I got Cyborg Pacheco goes to the cards at plus 200. I had Francis, and I had a quick little parlay between Rafion Stotz and Johnny Ebblin. It was a great day.

I think I'm up like 20-something. units it's ridiculous it's going to be a winning year officially uh in the unit department i'm up like i think close to 30 units now and no matter what happens the rest of the way we should be in really good shape so i'm happy about that and look well let's go back to the pfl real quick they have a little momentum right now it is imperative that they do something with this and i'm not talking about francis needs to go on the today show or anything like that this is not what bell at McKee when it's just like get this guy everywhere. It's not even what they had with Larissa Pacheco after she beat Kayla Harrison. Get this woman on every program you possibly can

and let's have the world get to know her. This is about the promotion and getting eyeballs on it. So someone asked on the post fight show, A.K. What does the PFL have to do in the next nine months to have people take them as seriously as they think they're being taken right now? I said, the first step they need to do is, well, there's two steps that are important. One, I don't think is going to happen. Probably neither of them are going to happen. One is I said, Don Davis needs to join me

on one of these programs. A live town square show where the people, the fans, get to ask Don Davis questions and he has to answer them. And we're not going to do the business questions. We're not going to do any of this.

We're going to do what, this is what we want. Can you do this for us? and I don't think he'll do that. He's very particular on what shows he goes on. But what I would like to see is whatever show Don Davis goes on next, whether it's with me or with Hawani or whoever, the first words that come out of his mouth need to be, look, we're so happy with the fan base,

this event was such a success that when we go back to Saudi Arabia for the PFL World Championships, all you need to do is be a subscriber to DeZone and ESPN Plus, and you get the card. You do that and you're going to get a lot of goodwill. And on top of that, you're going to get eyeballs on the product. Because Dakota Dichiva, if she goes out there and just melts Tilos Santos and delivers another performance like she's had this year, the amount of excitement, she becomes an immediate pay-per-view draw. She becomes someone you have to pay for.

And fans will be okay paying $50 to watch her if you get to be introduced to her for free, essentially, for something you've already paid for in the past. I think that is a huge moment for them. And I think by January or February, whatever Francis decides to do, whether he wants to go back to boxing for like first quarter of 2025, maybe box Deonté Wilder, you need to announce his next fight for October early in the year. Get, have somebody in lock. I don't care if it's the PFL heavyweight champion who wins the season. I do not care who it is. Vadim Nemcoff does not matter. that opponent needs to be announced.

We need to have a date. We need to have all that. And you take this entire year to build to that. I think those are very important things I need to do. And then the other thing, AK, get rid of Bellator. Enough is enough is enough. This is so stupid. We knew it was stupid from Jump Street that they were going to continue to do this.

We understood why they wanted to do this for a business perspective. You know, there's leftover sponsor deals that lasted another year or whatever. Get rid of it. It is killing you. to try to put on these Bellator cards that not a single person is watching. So those are very important things. What would you like to see them do over the next nine months or so to maintain this little bit of momentum they have picked up? I have a few questions.

So we don't know for yet what the broadcast plans are for the 2024 championships? We don't know. I would assume, based on the last two years, that this is going to be a $50 pay-per-view. Oh, please. which is a horrific decision. You are, you are spot on. This has to be. Those are the worst cards they put on.

And they, there's six title fights. There's six title fights. Six five rounders, AK. I think technically there's more, right? Because I'm just looking at the card now. So they have several tournament championships from their other, like their PFL, uh, Mena finals too, right? So this is literally like, I, I know you're talking, I think you're talking main card only,

but if someone were to watch from the prelims on, I think we're talking 10. 10, five round fights it looks like. Oh, my Lord. I didn't even think of that. Again, you were only talking main cards. So theoretically, like people, the prelims are really more of a niche thing. Again, people who are maybe paying more attention to the PFL min a product. Again, people from that region.

So it's not like people, it's like, as you're a fan, you have to watch those. So we shouldn't say like, oh, you're locked into 10, five round fights. But like you said, even six five round fights often is a slog because a lot of these PFL finals tend to go the distance, right? So it's not like, oh, it's only scheduled for five, but you're likely to get finishes. A lot of these fights are likely to go to the full 25 minutes. And with some of the usual PFL pacing problems, which, which by the way, Mike, they did, for the most part, avoid on Saturday, right? I mean, they still did the stupid thing.

The main card. Yes. And even then, they still did the stupid thing where, like, the fight ends and they run a promo before the decision, which is just whatever. But after the decisions were read, they did go immediately into the next fight. So props for that. Props for that. Still some weird issues, but it did, it did, it did fly by. You're right, Mike, once it got to the main card. So yeah, that was my first question was, uh, okay, this, yeah, you're right, though, this better be free. This better be free. Or sorry, with a subscription to ESM plus,

what's description to the zone? Do not make people pay an extra $50 for this. A lot of people were questioning having to pay $50 for the, the super fight card that has happened. And we thought this, we were all saying this card's pretty good. And some people were still saying, like, I'm not paying $50 for that. So if you're going to make them pay for the final as they do every year, that's a real bad idea. Mike, my other question for you is, do you know who is in the heavyweight final? I know Dennis Goldsoff is in the right. Correct. Correct.

I don't know who he's fighting. And that's another problem. Oleg, yeah, that's no. Oleg pop off. Oh, that's right. Who could very well win. So, yes, I don't know if the PFL has automatically earmarked this bout for like, oh, yes, whoever wins this will get Francis.

We don't know. We don't know. But I agree. It's imperative that they find a way to follow up in the story. Francis thing. Like I said, we don't know when Francis will want to get back in there. This was a huge undertaking for him to even make this return. No one would have blamed him if after what happened to him in his family earlier this year. He just said, I'm taking 2024 off. Like, I don't want to be in 2024 and M.A. anymore. Like, I will be back in 2025. Like, we'll figure something

out then. And so for him to do that was incredible. Yes. And if they can, from a promotional standpoint, give some indication of when we might see Francis again, that would be outstanding. But yeah, I'd like to see that one somewhat little thing is I do want to see them capitalize on the Paul Hughes heat. I know he's playing it up a little bit saying like, oh, what if I fought, you know, if I fought, if I fought, if I fought Usman, it would be like, it would be like shades of McGregor versus Habib. I don't think, and listen, we'll write about that. I think most of us in the media kind of like that idea, but that's going to be a hard sell in general for fans to like make that connection. But I do think they have something here with Paul Hughes. I thought it was a very good performance against Aegean Biki.

And yeah, so that's one thing I say is get a, get an another, get an Ireland show on the, on the docket. That, that's a big one. That'll be a big one. They don't need to make any big home run swings off of this card, but they can build something here. Mike, they can build something here. And let's also try to find an opponent for Johnny Epplin. I have no idea how they're going to do that. But he can't fight Fabian Edwards again, right?

We can't do this. No, he can't fight Fabian Edwards again. he mentioned Costello von Stenis and he mentioned impikasang and i again he's got nobody to fight another rematch he von Stenis is somewhat interesting because when he's on he could be a compelling opponent plus you got the gay guard factor because those two guys train together and you have gayguard who is trying to sue the company if he's in costello's corner that's just fun that's just really fun stuff but they need middleweights badly they need bantam weights badly for patchy mix. Brian Kelleher just got released. I know he's kind of thrown his name in the hat.

Kyle Dawkes, apparently has signed with a big promotion after being a CFFC champion once again. Maybe he signed, resigned with the UFC. I don't think I would kind of be surprised if that's the case. PFL should probably pick him up. Johnny Ebbin versus Kyle Dawkus, not the sexiest fight, but at least it's a guy with some UFC experience who's been in there with some good dudes, gave Kevin Holland a run for his money. That would be something interesting, but they got to build these divisions up. those are two super important divisions right now. And the other thing I told Casey and he completely agreed with, you want to stick it to Dana White in any kind of way. And this isn't going to, like, hurt the UFC in any way, in shape, and form.

But this would be a good little shade move. PFL should start an atomweight tournament. Like, that's what they should do. Dana White's already expressed interest. Like, yeah, we're thinking about maybe doing atom weight. Not a PFL does one first. There ain't a ton of them out there. So if PFL does it and has them all fight for a million bucks,

that would be a nice little move to be like, yeah, we got this before the UFC. So let's see what they could do with all this momentum. And yeah, this is, again, this is a B-minus. This wasn't a grand slam. But it was a double. They hit a double. Invicta is no longer owned by Zufa, right? I'm not crazy, right?

No, they're not. So they could do, do you think they could do like a cross-promotion? Do you think that something Don Davis was considering me, a little cross-motion with Invicta? Sure. If he was going to do. Because that's out there. Yeah, they're no longer, no longer the Zufutais. Interesting.

And I said, and I said, get rid of Bellator, but I'm not saying get rid of Belator versus the PFL versus Bellator idea. Like, keep that, because this is like, I compared it to like the WWF buying WCW. They're not, WCW didn't exist, but they were on WWF programming as the WCW guys and gals. So you could still do PFL versus Bellator. They could still wear the Bellator T-shirts. stuff and we could still have some fun that february event is something they need to do every year

and it doesn't even need to be bellator pf lsson whoever you're not going to get the ufc so let's just stop doing that stop calling out john jones and all that because it's never going to happen the ufc doesn't need to do that and just focus on what you have and trying to build stars but we'll see if they can capitalize on this and all at all was a was a good night for the pfl so let's Let's go to the world. I'll ask you real quick before we do it. We'll transition after. There are some listeners who had some suggestions.

What do we do with Francis? What do we do? If you had to guess, because I said, I'm not going to matchmake for him in a serious effort because I don't think it's really fair to do that with everything Francis has gone through. And if others want to do that, it's fine. What do you predict he does next? Does he box? Does he do it?

is his next fight, MMA? What are we thinking? I see MMA. I see MMA. I think he loves boxing. I think he really enjoyed both of those experiences, even though one ended pretty emphatically not in his favor. But obviously, I think he loved that Tyson Fury fight. This is a guy who's not going to be, like, put off by losses.

So he's going to step back into the boxing area at some point. But the way he talked about MMA, it almost felt, I think, like, the way it was a lot of us want to perceive it was like he was coming home. You know, he said going to the gym and doing, M-May training again wasn't hard. Obviously, that wasn't the hard part. That was the easy part. That was probably the easiest part of, you know,

returning to cage fighting was like, it was so familiar to him. It was so comforting. And so that was good to hear. And I think that he'll stick with that again. It probably will be a while before we see Francis fight. He's at the stage or he probably doesn't need to fight more than once a year. I think in any one discipline, I think if we see him doing like one boxing,

one on MAA fight a year, that'd be cool. But it's very likely he only fights once per year. He's got money. He's achieved a lot. There's not too much left to prove for him. So I think, fortunately for PFL, the timing will work out for him to fight the pop-off Goldsoff winner. Like I said, I don't think it's their number one choice, but it is a very easy thing for

them to set up. I don't know if either guy will be able to bring the intangibles of Henna Fadera. Like, the good thing about Fennedra is he was just frigging gigantic. And on a pretty, like, intriguing hot streak. Like, I mean, you have to be in a hot streak to win one of these tournaments. So he worked. He worked as like a challenger who most people. hadn't, weren't familiar with.

I don't know if we get that with Galtzal or Pop-Boff, but that's okay. I think Francis just being back is the draw right now. So not a sexy pick, but I think they can wait for the PFL, see who wins this PFL, 24 heavyweight tournaments and line him up with Francis. Maybe the fight doesn't come to fruition, but if I'm PFL, I'd be like pushing for that after the member saying, like, yes, this is our plan. Our plan is to match up Popov or Galtzov with Francis. And you can always pivot from that.

Like, it's not like, it's not set in stone. Yeah. Vadim Nemcoff is the most interesting option to me. Yeah, that'd be cool. But we can wait for that. And then one thing I want to say about Paul Hughes, I agree with you they should go to Dublin or Belfast or whatever for his next fight, but not with Usman.

Not with Usman. Let's give him one more. Do, man, why do I keep forgetting his name? I keep calling him Tocoff, but it's not Tocoff. Who did U.S. Shobli? Let's do Paul Hughes versus Shobli main event in Ireland. And if he wins that, the crowd just going absolutely. insane for him, like that's a star making moment for him, then you give him the title fight.

Then you do it. Then I'm totally fine with that. Because I think I didn't see anything there that made me think, all right, this guy could be Ducemanov right now. And I wouldn't have picked AJ to be Dousman either, just to put that out there. But he won. He went in there. He proved he belonged.

And that was a tremendous win. That knee he landed in the first round after McKee was tagging him up a little bit, changed the entire complexity of the fight. and dude carried himself like a star all week, so shout out to him. Let's go to the UFC. Let's go to the world's most famous apex. Let's go to the middleweight division, aka Anthony Fluffy Hernandez, is here to stay. It is a miserable experience to fight that man, as Bachel Pereira found out on Saturday night at the apex,

because Pereira was lighting him up, landing those Pereira shots, and you could see it in his eyes, A.K. I'm about to finish this man. And then Fluffy, who cannot be killed, showed that he could not be killed. And you could see the look on Pereira's face change immediately. He was like, oh, man, that was the best I could do. I couldn't get him out. And then he just got, he got tortured for the next almost four rounds. And finally, the referee with the mercy stoppage in round five, Fluffy Hernandez, five wins in a row now, maybe six. Maybe it's six in a row. I don't remember he hasn't lost since the kevin holland fight in 2020 and he was hurt for that fight as he told me which is a while he has withdrawn from so many fights if he is not as close to healthy as one can be

he's just not going to fight anybody like if he's got an injury that could hamper his performance he's just not going to fight that's the way he looks at things and he looked freaking sensational against michel perere fluffy is wants the belt he's not going to get it now but he wants to keep taking steps so a k I ask you my best friend, what is that next step for Anthony Fluffy Hernandez? Well, this was easy for me, Mike. I had done my pre-work, thankfully, and a few episodes ago, I had already earmarked the winner of this fight to face a, also a streaking contender, a Frenchman, Mike, named Nasardine EMAVov. So I think it makes sense for both guys. I think a lot of people want to see Anthony Hernandez tested against a, you know, a clear cut top five,

top six guy in the division right now. That is what Imovov is at the moment. And at the same time, I don't know if people are completely sold on Imovov as a contender. So that to me is the way to go. I like it stylistically. I don't think Hernandez can overwhelm Ima Vov quite like he did, Michelle Pereira. If he does, again, then we are seriously looking at fluffy as a contender if we aren't already. The losses on his resume are so odd.

Like there's no shame in losing to Kevin Holland. I think, if anything, we see Kevin Holland, like, he's had some huge wins on his resume, just based on, like, his power, his finishing ability, his, how unpredictable he can be. And that was, I would say, looking back now, an unpredictable result that now. I think at the time, it wasn't too shocking. I think we were all pretty high in Holland. And now since it's like seeing where both guys have gone, now it looks like, whoa, how the hell did Holland win that fight? But, again, he can put on anybody. He put on a fluffy that day.

It happens. And then there's a random loss to Marcus Perez was just like, MM. And maybe, again, Fluffy wasn't quite 100% for that fight either. So Hernandez, I would like to see it on pay-per-view. I really hope this doesn't get stuck headlining an apex card, but it kind of has apex headliner written all over it. So I was at a fork in the road with this one, okay. Do I go, do I shoot for the, what I feel is not a surefire at no point,

but a pretty high percentage at no point, the crystal ball pick, or do I go Magic Wand? The ultimate magic wand pick is something that could never happen and I'm not going there. Not never, but not right now. I have realized and I thought this after I spoke with Anthony Hernandez last week, there are very few fights in this world that I want more than Anthony Hernandez versus drink his duplicity. That is just going to be insane. And it doesn't need to be for the belt.

Like if DDP somehow loses the belt along the way, like that fight is going to happen at some point. and it's going to be my everything. I will just do a watch party for that one fight. I don't care if it's at the apex or my backyard. It doesn't matter. So my magic one pick, AK, is something that I truly want, and I hope the UFC matchmakers are listening to me, and I don't care what it costs to get this man to say yes.

Fluffy Hernandez versus Paula Costa is where I'm going. Let's go. Let's get him a name. Let's get him a name, a guy who is a brute, who again, who also can't be killed by anybody. And let's just do that. Like two dudes who are pretty damn good on the microphone, who are interesting characters and who have similar fighting styles,

but yet so incredibly different in other ways, it would just be fun. And that could be a roadshow main event for a fight night. That is a terrific featured bout or a co-main event on a pay-per-view. You could stick this fight anywhere, and people would be excited about it. So I landed on Fluffy Hernandez versus Paul Costa. My crystal ball pick would have been main event, UFC Vegas 107 Fluffy versus Roman DeLizze. But there's the Paula Costa one just makes me so much happier.

Yeah, there are a ton of great options for Fluffy after Saturday. Excuse me. And really, and really not just like intriguing matchups from an entertainment standpoint. Like it really feels like we have something here. I think the narrative going into Saturday was one of these guys, both of these guys have kind of been dark horse. tenders, and that will no longer be the case after Saturday because we expected someone to show out. Sure enough, it was Anthony Hernandez. And I don't think you're the only one that would like to see how he'd fare against DDP.

He's one fight away. He's probably one really good fight away. He's won, you know, Hamza Shumayev slipping on a banana peel as usual away from taking that spot. So could we see Fluffy fight for the title in 2025? I wouldn't bet against it. I don't think he's their number one option, but he has entered that short list of, you know, the UFC that go down their options for, let's say, DDP rematch is circling in January or February, and if he managed to win the rematch, you'll be looking for a DDB return in the summer, maybe early third quarter

of 2025. Hernandez might be available then. Maybe he'll fight again before that. We probably will. I think that's what we're saying. And he gets one more win. He'll be in talks, man. He'll be in talks.

And he's reliable. The guy shows up. The guy shows up. I think he only, this fight got rescheduled, but I don't think that was the fault of either fighters. So Hernandez, DDP in the future? Yes, yes, somewhere, somewhere down the road. A lot of great matches for this guy, though.

Shout out to Rob Fon. No one was given him a chance against Kyler Phillips, except one guy, the guy wearing the Red Sox hat right now. Rob Font had a tough first round, then he just turned it around and round two. He beat the hell out of Kyler Phillips in round two, and that momentum kind of carried him into round three. Kylea Phillips is a talented, athletic, up-and-coming fighter,

and, you know, we talk about y'all must have forgot. Y'all must have forgot Rob Fon, baby, goes in there, gets a decision. decision over Kyler Phillips is a massive underdog and AK I'm doing it. I'm going to do it. I know a lot of people want Jose Aldo to fight this guy, but I've changed course on that fight. I want Jose Aldo to fight Sean O'Malley next. That's what I would like to see. So I'm going with a veteran matchup Rob Font versus former Bantamweight champion Dominic Cruz.

I'm pulling the cruise card, are you? I'm pulling the cruise card for Rob Fott. I think I did that recently so I can't again. I don't remember which fight it was. There was some Bantamweight one recently and I was like I was like could we drag out Dominicruz? This guy no I can't do it but yeah it makes a lot of sense there was like a million fights that makes sense for Rob Fond I think that might be a theme with this

episode I was trying to think I had to like lock in and just like make decisions quickly because I think if you looked at like the potential opponents for the main card winners on this you go to like you'd go dizzy with like 20 different names so Fond I tried to live myself to a range of like

you know one to 20 in the Bantamweight division there's obvious names he won't get it's kind of a step back. It's definitely a step back from Kyler, but I landed on Chris Gutierrez. No, no implications of like, oh, well, this fight put either guy into the top 15, top 10. It doesn't really matter.

I think they both, I think font probably, he sounded like he wants to stay busy. I don't, I think a December return might be too soon, but if he wants to fight in January, I know Gutierrez recently had a fight, had an opponent fall through. I think he ended up, did he end up fighting anyway? He fought a different opponent.

He fought Quang Lee. He fought quangly and a bit of a mismatch there, I feel. So I think Chris Gutierre is probably ready to go anytime soon. The storming there with font for December, January or February. By the way, speaking of Anthony Hernandez, someone had, I just don't want to forget this. It popped into my mind. Someone gave a check the tapes for you, AK. I was already, didn't I already check myself?

Okay, it was a different one. Okay, go, go. Janelle Fallon sent me a message right after we dropped onto the next one. It was probably like an hour after it went out. on the podcast network. AK didn't throw a two for the Iron Turtle Fluffy pick, but we're team fluffy, so I guess this pick is for Pereira.

I thought we talked about this in the show. I know I know we talked about Grant Dawson and Gamrod. Yes, that was the one. That was the one we talked about. Maybe I just DM someone. I feel like, okay, maybe someone DM me and corrected me and I didn't yet.

I don't think maybe you came up in there. But yes, yes, that was a mistake. Yes, look, we all make them. I made a ton this year. Oh, and we got some from the listeners this week, But I'm for the most part, I think going to not read them out. But we'll see, we'll see. Fair.

Let's go to maybe. Guys, when I tweet things out, you need to read the tweets before you react to them. Don't just find a snippet of it that you want to react to because the amount, I took a little shit for the Anthony Hernandez versus DDP tweet that I put when I was like, I know we're not there yet. But Anthony Hernandez versus DDP has got to be fun. And everyone's like, oh, come on. He's not. He's nowhere new. there he's got to win like two or three more fights yeah no shit that's why hey preface it by

saying i know we're not there yet but the other one was charles johnson is in is now in the conversation for the breakout fighter of the year and people like oh come on breakout fire of the year whatever he's four no dude is four and oh he lost three in a row he entered twenty twenty twenty four on a three fight losing streak and he's now four and oh in twenty and he's looking to fight again in December to go to 5-0. This guy's had an incredible year and gets the victory against Sumadherjee. Good fight. Sumederji put on, I think, a much better fight than people expected him to.

And dude is making waves at 125. So, A.K., where do we go with Mr. Energy following this victory? Yeah, I did not see the Charles Johnson, like, Renaissance coming. We all acknowledged he was tough. Even when, like, he made that debut against Makai, we're all like, this is, we did. I don't know if people were predicting a finish. I probably did, but I think I had a lot of people smarter than me

saying that Charles Johnson's like, oh, if you don't know about this guy, like if you don't know, haven't watched enough of this guy, he's really tough. He's a really tough guy, he's been hard to put away. And sure enough, he lost a, like, a pretty clear-cut decision, but he didn't get finished by Makaya if he wasn't close to getting finished. And he's had some mixed results since then before this year. Now he's just kind of finally putting it together.

That win over Josh Van was huge. That win on Saturday was huge. there's some good options here Mike there's some boring options to move up the rankings I want to take this opportunity to hate on another fighter and I shouldn't say that but to I'm giving him Manel cop after Manel Cop loses to Bulldog Silva that's right I'm calling this is a double prediction this is all prediction Bulldog Silva beats Manel Cop at at USC Tampa December 14th and then Charles Johnson gets cop with a chance to move into the top So this is

this is almost a friend's for a moment but not quite but it ultimately could be A.K. But we have to see how it plays out. He wants to fight on the Tampa card. There is Minel Kopp fighting on the Tampa card against Bruno Silva.

I have no insight to this whatsoever. But anytime Min al-Cop fights there is a very real chance that either him or his opponent doesn't make it to the fight. It just seems to be his luck over the past few years or pretty much this entire run in the UFC. So my official Otno pick is Charles Johnson fighting one of those two guys on the Tampa

card after one of them is unable to compete for one reason or another. If this doesn't take place and Charles cannot get on that card, because I think that's going to be his only chance as he slides in to fight one of these two guys, UFC announced that they are going to Australia in February. we do little Chuck E. versus Vinnie Sig's action. I'm down for that.

That's fun. Two of the two, like, again, two years ago, guys who you wouldn't have thought would be in the title picture and are like legitimate players

at 125. Yeah, I like it. I think I saw some people recommending that. I'm not against it. Yeah, good matchup.

Good matchup. And I honestly, I don't think, I think Ursig would be a big, I think Ursig would be at least a minus like 250 favorite just based on obviously he fought for the title. I don't know if he's,

that far ahead of Charles Johnson, at least not the way Charles Johnson's fighting lately. So I like that matchup. Let's go to Cameron Smotherman, who makes his UFC debut on less than a week's notice, and he gets a big win over Jake Hadley. He was a huge underdog. Cue the band, Mike.

Cue the band. I got a feeling. I got a feeling. You got a feeling? I don't know. I got a feeling. Just because also I saw a lot of listeners suggest this. I'm like, maybe we're all in on this.

I don't know. I got a feeling, Mike. This would be the most, this would probably be the most, random cue the band I've ever seen it would be I think we should do the countdown I think we should do the count down is your okay all right let's do the countdown five four three two one co Cameron Simon oh shit I'm so mad at myself we could have I'm so mad at myself damn it oh what an idiot I am that was right there oh Cameron Cameron Cameron on Cameron

God, we what a dink I am. I'm so angry myself. That's all right. By the way, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your describing the fight. Because this was quite a moment for anyone who's followed Cameron Smotherman on the regional scene. Super talented guy, very charismatic. Fell flat on the contender series, unfortunately, when he had a shot a year ago or a couple of years ago. So, you know, and he didn't get an immediate call back.

Maybe he didn't want to go to the contender series again at that moment. but like he's had a lot of highlights a lot of weird eventful moments he had a very funny moment I don't know if it was earlier this year or last year where he like he won a split decision and then said told like one of the judges like you got to you should be fired you like you should quit you should be fired you're terrible like the one judge who scored against me that was great um had a big comeback knockout in oh what was that fight it was like um who was he fighting sorry Cameron's motherman uh he was fighting mando gutierrez last year and probably on his way losing a decision huge knockout the talent

was always there just waiting for the opportunity. And boy, he jumped on it and it was a great performance. So, yes, I would like to see him fight someone who I think is slightly above him. I don't know. Maybe people would put him above Simon already based off that Hadley win, but I'm not there yet. I think Simon, I know he's coming off a couple losses. I still think he's done enough to be a little bit higher.

But we'll see. That's why I want to see them fight each other. Maybe Smotherman is a step above Simon, but both guys pretty young. And again, a hashtag camera on a camera. you can't beat that marketing. I'm giving myself do-do for that. No, no. No, I'm doing it.

Self-imposed do-do because it was right there. It should have been, it should have been the most easiest friends for the moment in the history of the program. Haddon's not a bad pick. I don't think Cody Haddon's a bad pick. It's not a bad pick, but it's, now it's a sucky pick. You win the show, the listeners win the show. I'm just staring at you all in awe at how good you are at this while I'm just so bad at this.

Stop it. Let's go to Darren Elkins. What a fight with Daniel Paneda. It was kind of what we expected. These two just absolute dogs getting after it. Daniel Paneda retired after the fight. He retires with an extra 50 Gs, gets the fight of the night. I want you to go first, A.K.,

because I don't know what to do with Darren Elkins because, like, he's not going to fight for the belt or anything like that. He's also fought almost everybody. division. So I don't, I don't know what to do here. What did you land on? I need to go on a little bit of a rant first. Please. Great fight. It was super depressing to see this though in the apex and then to see Daniel Panetta retire in the apex. I know Daniel Panetta is not a, you know, world beater dominant champion. I know he's not a future UFC Hall of Fame or whatever, but he's a guy who has something like 50-something pro fights, fought in the

UFC, PFL, several other promotions. And, and I, and has given his blood, sweat and tears for entertainment for many, many, many, many years. And to see him, and he's not the first fire to do this, to have to lay down his gloves. Again, in a mostly empty apex, just sucks. For this fight to happen in a mostly empty apex sucks. And I saw someone tweet, and I'm not putting this person on blast. Like, I get it. I don't know.

Maybe they're a newer fan and they don't care about, they're just so used to the APEC, or they're an older fan. And then, you know, they have a sort of more jaded outlook on combat sports. But saying, like, why are people complaining this in the APEC? some people just don't deserve to, like, don't necessarily need to fight in front of crowds. Like, these guys were fighting in the apex, sorry, in front of crowds and arenas way before the apex existed. Like, these are guys who were clearly worthy of fighting in front of crowds.

You know how I know? Because they have many, many times. Thousands upon thousands of people have watched Daniel Paneda and Darren Elkins fight live. It's only because of the apex in recent years that would end up getting crammed in there. So I think it's, and this fight itself, if that's not a fight that is meant to be put in front of a crowd, what is? that was that was blood and grit and toughness and two guys just putting their lives literally putting their lives on the line um you know to to entertain us and i'm glad people

get to watch on tv that's fantastic but this a live crowd would have loved this it would have taken this to another level and then paneda retiring after what a moment that would have been and that's what we're losing guys that's what we're losing with these apex cards i i know there's a whole swath of fans who do not care about the atmosphere they don't care they just want to see They don't care where it happens, how it happens. But we are losing moments, guys. Anderson Silva. Breggen retired at the apex.

Like, this is just terrible. I don't know what the solution is. I know we've harboring it forever, but I'd say this was such a huge example of like, wow, what are we doing putting these kind of things on the apex? Because what a waste of, not a waste, but what a shame. People didn't get to soak in the energy of this fight live and then really give Paneda his flowers because it I don't know I'm a softy mic I probably would have cried so maybe it's better that didn't happen but Alex Casares Alex Casares Aaron Elkins can't believe it hasn't

happened yet again let's let's just keep giving Darren like you must be this tall to to go on this ride you must have at least like 20 or 15 UFC 15 UFC appearances to to fight Darren Elkins and Darren Elkins way over that Alex Casas way over that so yeah I'm throwing there I might just steal that that's good I thought I thought they had fought I did too I assumed I had to check, double check, triple check. I'm like, Dave, at least. Did him in a Rosa fight yet? No, and I thought that fight had also.

Listeners sent me so many picks and I had to triple check all of them because I'm like, did this happen? Did this happen? Darren Lundkins has fought so many times. And somehow I don't think he's fought Julian or Rosa nor, right? Or Alex Casares. I actually, another name, because I saw him on the card last night. I saw him in the corner of Rob Fon. I was like, maybe Darren Elkins versus Calvin Cater.

I don't hate that. Yeah, I like that. No way that's a boring fight. Ah, that's good. You know, that's my pick. I'm going Darren Elkins versus Calvin Cater. There you go, Mike. There you go, Mike.

That's a great pick. Let's go to the wild card round, A.K., let's select one fighter. We have not matched for yet. We'll matchmake for them right now, AK, who are you matchmaking for in this exciting wildcard round? I got to go with my boy. Asu Amabaya, got me some fantasy points. Didn't get a finish, but got the win and beat a ranked guy.

Mateo's Nikolao is ranked in the UFC rankings. there you go, got a few points there. That was nice. I am a believer in this guy as a contender. I am ready to rush him. I am ready to rush him. I think, let's see, who fought? We had what? Charles Johnson got a win. Right. So I would rank Amlabaev above him. That's not a surprise. Again, Nicolael was ranked. I don't know how people are going to feel about this. You mentioned the Australia card. I kind of want to see Albaio and Kai Karra, France.

Oh. Yeah. I know if your Kai, it's a lot, a lot to gain there. But I think that would be a big deal for him. I think I think that would be a big deal for Kai to be the guy to stop Al Mabayev's windstreet. Because the guy has been very, very impressive before coming to the UFC. Now he's really showing his ability inside the Octagon. And Kai Karfranz may be too much too soon, but I want to move Al-Mabaiab up fast.

That's really the only name in like the top 12 or so. that I think he could reasonably be matched up with right now. So there we go. A.K., where am I going with this? You are matching up rebellus to Spain. Sure I am. If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. I actually, I was wrong.

I felt so terrific about the matchmaking between Rebellis to Spain and Austin Lane. until I saw something on Instagram. Austin Lane was training at Extreme Couture heading into this fight. And I was like, son of a bitch. He's no longer in that small gym in Jacksonville anymore. He's training with, no, and no disrespect to those guys. He's training with the highest level coaches in MMA. And they're not going to instruct him when this guy has changed his entire life to go to Las Vegas and train at that gym.

They're not going to instruct him to have a kickboxing match. with rebellus to Spain. They're going to tell him to tackle the span immediately. And I kind of knew right there and then that my confidence had wavered and this is not going to be good. So I saw a lot of people

just saying like just cut rebellos to Spain, but not before he fights Tai Tui Vasa. We have to do this. Like I'm going back to the well. Wait a minute. I'm going to keep going back to the well. Let's just do Rebellus to Spain versus Taitoivasa and just an absolute

firefight. And let's just do it. Otherwise, like, you have to cut him. You have to cut him. Send him to karate combat. Like, that's just crazy. But if he's going to stay in the UFC, like, give him Ty. Ties lost like five fights in a row.

He's been finished in all of them. He has. Like, it's not like, it's not like, there's like 33 heavyweights of the UFC. It's not that, it's not that far of a bridge to put this fight together. So two of us is not going to shoot a take down. zero percent chance. So let's just have these two dudes fight each other. Who cares?

Were this fight not to happen until 2025? It will be, let's say early 2025. It will be around three years since Tye's last win. You are correct. He's lost five straight. I thought it was four. Either way, four straight would have still been pretty bad.

Jarzino split call, which wasn't really a split call. Marchant, Taborah, Pavlovich. I mean, really good competition. That's a big step back. But maybe, you're right, maybe given his lack of success, that is the step back that Ty needs and maybe given Robles his lack of success, maybe this is the name that can restore faith that he could be not a contender, but someone who can, the UFC can rely upon for like

a highlight once every couple of fights, you know, or. Yes. And that's what we're trying to do. That's all we're trying to do. There's no stakes involved here. There's no title implications. There's literally nothing on the line here except a second paycheck. You couldn't have, uh, you didn't want to go.

with the Tafa brother or something? No. No, because they'll just tackle him. There is a percentage that they will tackle him. So, no, I'm trying to limit the tackling to zero percent chance. So that's where we're at. Let's just go ahead and do that.

It was the night before the gathering and all through the house. The host rapid cozy cashmere throw from Homense for their spouse, kids toys for $699 under the tree, and crystal glasses for just 14. 99 for their brother Lee, a baking dish made in Portugal for Tom and Sue, and a nice 599 candle, perfectly priced just for you. Happy holidays to all, and to all a good price.

Home sense, endless presents perfectly priced. Let's just go to the peeps, AK. Let's go to the peeps, and I got a lot of submissions, more than I usually get. So let's get in there. Francisco, I believe he's a first timer. I know he's the first time, first time he's, he's messaged me. He only has one suggestion, AK, and it's for Anthony Fluffy Hernandez, and he's coming out Guns Blazain, AK, coming out guns blazing, doing the right thing, apparently listens to the show,

a do-do free first pick, Fluffy Hernandez versus Brennan Allen rematch from LFA. Well done. Well done. I had several people send that in, and most of whom did note it was a rematch. That's great. That is very smart matchmaking by the listeners. There's a storyline there. I think you see owns the LFA footage. They can play that stuff back. And they're at the point. I think they are at the point in their careers where it would be different. It would be different. You know, in some ways, of course, sort of resemble the first matchup. I don't think they've

completely changed since that fight. But it would be nice to see how far they've evolved. So yeah, to Francisco and everyone who called for that one and mentioned the LFA connection, big props. Well done. Chris Chia's on. I believe this is the first time. he has chimed in but this is a little bit of it it's a matching question and it's not a ufc one uh chris asks what are the chances that frances the next fight is anatoly malcon what do you think of that matchup i also saw people talking about this um don davis has got starting outside the box i mentioned victor earlier one we don't know what's going on with them i mean they just cut ties with uh the super stage north cut for my good might for god's sake i don't know what's going on over there um but i i i don't

too would hope that Chatshri and Don Davis are open to these kinds of ideas because that's the biggest fight for both guys. I would also like to see if they could, FFL could do something with KSW. Phil DeFries mentioned Francis a long, long, long, long time ago. Oh, after when France became a free agent, obviously, Phil DeFries start talking about, is there a way we can get him to KSW for even just a one-off so I can fight this guy? So he's not a free agent now, but I feel like the league is flexible. So I, while I said, I think they try and keep it in.

house just the easiest way to organize it malikin phil de frees champion from another organization would be really fun yeah you just have the wrong name from k s w it's puginowski versus francis oh god i will accept i'll accept nothing less if you i mean if you want to sell out a stadium in uh in poland you've book that you'll trust me that's sell in a day i think i think i think the mma community as a whole websites content creators the promotions themselves the fighters uh i don't know if there's a outside of maybe frances versus john jones i don't know if there's another fight that will generate that kind of interest that we would all hope for well that that one would we need to do freaking hen and fahedda versus poohge that's fun that'd be great ridiculous too

we need to rebook uh first of all roug roug and um malikin that fight still needs to happen i know that event got canceled but let's keep that one let's hope they find another home for that fight and then the winner of uh pood's and uh the foods and now we're talking now we're talking Now we're talking. Now we're talking. Chris London has a bunch of suggestions. Ingana versus the winner of the heavyweight tournament. Hughes versus Narragam Adoff.

McKee versus J.J. Wilson. Cyborg versus Aspen Ladd. I don't like that fight. Honestly, Cyborg has, I think she said she had three fights left heading into this. I suggested on the preview show, it should be a three-fight series with Larissa Pacheco.

Just do best two out of three. Whoa. After that fight, I would love to see it again. But if she wins the, but if she wins the second one, then the final fight has to be against someone else. If Cyborg won again. If Cyborg won again. If she wants to stick around.

If she wants to stick around, do one more. Yeah, do what you can. Can I ask you this? Because I ask Casey this too. Yeah. After seeing what Cyborg did yesterday, if in some hypothetical universe, we get Chris Cyborg versus Kayla Harrison, who you pick in? I would probably pick cyborg. That's been my pick.

I think that's been my pick for a while. I picked her to beat Pacheco. Though I will say, I'm a little, I feel like Pacheco, she was in there, man. I mean, I felt like if there had been more activity, again, easier said than done when you're fighting freaking Chris Cyborg.

It did feel like there's moments for it. Like, if she'd been able to fill in the moments in between when she was landing big shots, because she landed some big shots, Pacheco in that fight. But there was nothing in between. When she wasn't throwing Haymakers and finding those moments,

she was getting, she was getting like, picked apart here. there. And so I'm with you. I want to see that rematch. But yes, as far as Harrison's Sabreberg goes, I still think, and I'm not, I'm not like saying, oh, because Harrison couldn't put away Vietta, Veda is a very tough opponent. But I do think there's a little bit further to go for Kayla.

I think, I think Cyborg would win a decision against her. But we'd really love to see that fight, though. I know we won't. Yeah. As far as the UFC goes, Fluffy versus Kyle Bajlio, Pereira versus Joe Piper, interesting. Font versus Jonathan Martinez, Johnson versus Medall Cop, he's with you, Smotherin versus Ricky Simone, Elkins versus Joe Anderson, Burrito, Elmabaya versus Alex Perez. I don't mind that one. Matsumoto versus Chris Gutierrez, Katona versus Venetius Olivera, let's go. And Lane versus Budai. God. I got some, I got some real, I know he won, so people felt like they had to match him up. I got so many Lane fights where I am like this. could be the worst fight of the year and that's one of them i did not get that one i didn't see that

one that did you get austin lane versus mozum i did i did horrible stinky matchup let's let's move on left lane fluffy versus canadian air prayer versus shower a bullet with a win font versus song yadong with the loss to umar if that's happening which by the way um there's a reason that fight is not on ma fighting dot com it seems like that there's talks for that fight to happen. I talked to somebody, I'll just throw it out there because it's public. We reached out to, obviously, everybody involved.

Some said, we're heading in that direction. Some said we haven't agreed to it. I reached out to Uriah Faber about this fight. And Y'I Faber told me, we haven't agreed to anything, but if it happens, it's going to happen in January in L.A. or Anaheim, wherever that card's taken place. And then Yorai did an interview with Helen Yee

and essentially said the same thing. So that's why. why looks like that fight is going to happen. There's a good chance, but it's just a matter of when. And I don't know if it's going to happen in December, but we'll see. But Fawt versus Song You know, it's not a bad one. Phillips versus Marcus McGee Martinez winner. Oh, which brings me to the, there's a little bit due to the last one, but I'm not going to call it up.

Johnson versus Nicolao, Elkins versus Erosa, if that hadn't happened. And apparently it hasn't. Amabaya versus the cop civil winner, Matsumoto versus the Victor Henry Charles Jordain winner. Rebellis versus St. Taffa trying to find someone even less likely to wrestle than Lane. Who's the answer's tied to us. That's left. That was all left.

Okay. Yeah. Robbie. Good day fellas. Let's get on. No. Fluffy versus Paul Costa. Love it.

Pereira versus Sharra bullet win or lose. Font versus Jose Aldo 2. Charles Johnson versus the Durd and Van winner, even though he fought van. So I don't love that one. Smotherman versus Brady Highstands. Uh, the damage versus Juicy Jay. wild card frances and gano

versus nathan adeptuilie malcolm bonus content recent passive fan of the NFL over the past couple of years and i haven't really chosen a favorite team yet leaning towards the philadelphia eagles thoughts or advice um hashtag drake may patriots let's go

uh or the toronto argonauts aka uh we don't need to leave the NFL okay micah awesome card again apex really delivering Hernandez versus Shemayev after he loses to Whitaker. I like that. This is just a gangster pick.

I love it. Good. Yeah, I like the moxie. I like the moxie. What do you think of this? Michelle Pereira versus Boe Nickel after UFC 310. Bo did not get booked for any of the five. 309.

Bo did not get booked for any of the cards here, right? The fight. He was booked for 309. He's fighting Paul Craig. Paul Craig. And what was this? What was this suggestion? Michelle Pereira versus Boe Nickel after that.

fight. After that fight. I'm trying to think. Let's say Bo Nicol win. So Bo Nichol beats poker. Yeah, I like it. I like it. I don't want them to do the hard push for Bo. Unless he runs through Craig in like 35 seconds. But I don't see that happening. If he does, then yes, then we can talk about fast tracking him to a teloshot. But yes, if it goes as I expect, which is either like a decision win or, you know, maybe has to work a little bit hard to get that finish, round two, round three. Then Michelle Fed out of makes a lot of sense. Font versus Mario Batista. Johnson deserves a big step up. So give me the Ursaig or the loser of Albazi versus Moreno. Smothervin versus Raul Roses Jr. Mm.

Mm. Test for both. Oh, no. I just, I feel like they're on different paths. I feel like they're on different paths. I don't know if I want to do that to either guy. Alambaya versus Tim Elliott, Matsumoto versus John Cassadada. Elkins versus Edson Barbosa needs to happen before they both retire.

Somehow hadn't happened before. I don't even think they've been booked. Like I thought that it happened and someone recommended it. I was like, wow, they haven't fought either. Like, Darren Elkins, you got at least 10 more fights in you. Come on, man. You get a lot of guys who still got to fight. You also agrees.

John wants a quick turnaround. So maybe slot him in for UFC Tampa if someone falls through with Cod versus Silva. Also in Ghana is nobody to fight. So I'm curious who you and AK would match him up with. Only person with the name who I can think of that's not with the UFC is Andre Arlofski, but I hate that fight. You're not alone. I'll just say that.

Listen, Chad. That's Jed's goat heavyweight, all right? Forget Steepa, all right? Forget Stepeh. Arlowski and gone, it was the real heavyweight legacy fight. Oh, God. And then we end with John Ray. Pereira versus Gregory Rodriguez.

We already got fun for Spatista Johnson versus William Beckoff. Smotherman versus Dan Argetta. Elkins versus Du Ho-Choi. Korean Superboy versus the damage. Don't hate it. Matamoto versus Hione-Barcellos. Edwards versus Yana Santos. Reed versus Viana.

What about, ooh, I like this one, AK. I like this one. Super Melly versus Molly McCann. Yes, M&M matchup. I love it. I'll always support those. I like it. I like it.

I think it makes a lot of sense for both. I can't remember. I was almost going to make Super Melly my wildcard pick, and I can't remember what I was thinking. But a lot of people drop Molly McCann. I think I dig it. And then John Ray had a suggestion for both Aston Lane and Rebellis to Spain. Cut them both. come on

don't cut Austin Lane he did what he had to do to win what are you on the guy keeps getting knocked out I mean he finally got a W you don't have to love it I didn't love it but he didn't do anything wrong

I'll turn it over to you my best yeah I like that there was a lot of font Batista's because I feel like people are still I mean we are still mad about that Batista win and it's like rather than move him up after beat like the biggest win of his career he actually has to kind of take maybe a step or two back and fight an extremely difficult matchup in Rob Fon.

Very good. Very good. Sorry, a lot of Charles Johnson, phrasing Lynn Beckhoff, and as I said before, a lot of Cameron on Cameron, so I won't go over all those. I'm just trying to think what other consensus picks here.

Mike, did you see Damolidore versus Robocop? Yes. Okay. What do you think of that? Fine. Yeah. It's not lighting. It's Greg Rodriguez.

Greg Rodriguez. What did I say? I'm just saying. I'm just saying. I'm sorry. We established this a long time. Like, I'm not Gregory.

No, Gregory. Okay. You're not Greg. Greg. Greg. This is correct. Let's go to the emails here.

Okay, I don't want to do too many repeats. Tristan Gordet. What's up, Tristan. Matsumoto, Aletang, highly Lee. I actually like that because I think I have them like right next to each other in the rankings, but it's maybe not high enough. Mike,

how high are you on Matsumoto after Saturday? That's a tough win. That's tough win, a cut out of beat. Yeah. He's good. He's fun. It was a good fight.

It was a good fight. I was talking to action bronze. If you guys haven't heard, Action Bronson is going to be on BTL on Thursday against Jed. And action wanted, he hit me up while we were doing the PFL watch party. And he was like, we need to talk about Matsumoto versus Katona. He was like, he was like, Ketoto was really fun. It was a really fun fun. And I was like, and Jed had this whole thing because he even said on the preview show that he's going to that.

Motsamota is going to do something that has never been done before. He's going to make Brad Catoa fun. But then I had to remind Jed, because I forgot about it as well, Brad Citona, a little over a year ago, got a fight of the night. That's crazy. Bodus against in the ultimate fighter finale fight. That's right. That's right.

At UFC 292 in Boston. So he's getting fun at this, this next entry into his UFC career. He's having his moments. I feel like if he was meaner, I just feel like the guy needs to be meaner. I just feel like the skills are all there, the athletic. criticisms there. He just can't quite like, it just never, there's never that extra gear where I feel like he's really trying to like F up the other dude. And again, that's not like a guaranteed success thing. But I think he it would really take Cotonin to another level. There's still time there. Justin Elso suggested Cotona and Cameron Simon. Lucas Cortes, uh, Lane Rodriguez, Norrero, Nessimelo, Nassimelo, I should stop reading Austin Lane fix. I don't even know why I'm bothering with this. Uh, Anthony Hernandez versus Imovov. Yes, sir. And, uh, Michelle Pareda, Marvin Vittori. Instagram, Caleb Stevenson. Why?

Why do that? You're repulsed. I'm a little, I'm a little bit repulsed. You think he's just going to, you think he'll get a less exciting version of what we saw on Saturday? Yes, because you can't kill,

if you think you can't kill Anthony Hernandez, you think you're going to kill Marvin Vittori? I, we're just going to see, yeah, maybe not a five rounder, maybe not a five rounder. Can we do a one rounder?

That's fine, but, I don't know. Martin Vittori should be fighting Brennan Allen and nobody else. All right. Uh, honest me, Caleb Stevenson, Phillips versus Sayid Nirmagumegov, Daniel Santos winner. Okay. Charles Johnson, Tim Elliott.

Yes. I like it. I like the match up. I either Johnson, I like Johnson or Amabaya versus Tim Elliott, either one of them. Let me move to Gerard Biagin. What we got here? Michelle Piddha, Bittetta versus Sharra Bullet Petrosian winner, Font, versus Montefi Jackson. I mean, yeah, it's a great fight. Yeah, it's a great fight. I just trying to think.

I wouldn't hate it. No, I wouldn't. Elkins versus Josh Kulabow, random, but entirely possible. Jason Dernay, font versus Miles Johns after he ether's Cody Carman number nine. Ouch. I don't like this matchup. I want to hear what you think. Cameron Smotherman and Taylor Lapilus. I think Taylor's is a bit too experienced for Cameron right now. Maybe I'm crazy. Taylor's on just a really impressive run right now He's very good Maybe that's something we can look at

If they go back to Paris again Maybe I think that's a Not just an experience gap It's like a quality of competition gap I think Laplos is just a bit Quite a bit above But I'm sure if you're Smotherman You would take it

But I just don't like that for him to continue his Like I want to see him build up I think Smotherman is really charismatic And I would like to see them build him In some way And see what they have with him Matsumoto Javid Basharat very tough matchup. I like it.

I'm not going to read it. You know what? This is a good John Edwards pick, and I'm still not going to read it because she missed wait. Lane, Sacrifice to do Avasta. There you go, Mike. People want to see this. You read Left Lane. Shout out to Left Lane. Let's close on Twitter. Barry O'Reilly, Austin Lane, Walter Walker. I don't know. Okay. It's fine.

Melissa, you want, here's an M&M matchup for you, Mike. Melissa Martinez, and assuming she's still on the roster, Marnik Man. It could be, Mike, it could be just another Marathon. Marnik Man Day. I still have an excuse to make this joke. It's one more. Give you one more. Give you one more,

give me one more Marnik Man fight. Sure. Reed versus Sam Hughes, two, the rematch we've all been waiting for. Yes, Barry, dream big, Barry, dream big.

Amabaiab, Ursaig, Elkins and Kassaris. Yes, I love those. Chris Martin. Michelle Piddetta, cannoneer.

Sure. Yeah. Is that, okay. He's with you, Smother Manhattan. I know you felt bad. about that pick made with you uh he should feel bad chris christ should feel bad about this pick

elkins versus feely i'm pretty sure they have this is do-do right they've trained together forever right they've elkins is the alpha male guys yes they're both alpha male guys i think they've trained i don't i don't know if they're like super close friends or anything but i feel like i think they've trained together for a long long long long i assume i think if yeah i think if you go to sacramento you'll see that that fight like four times sure so i get the i get the intention behind it like i said you must have x amount of fights to fight Darren Elkins and Andrew Frily, Andrew Philly certainly passes that, but I think there, I would assume there have some

sort of relationship, so probably not happening. Amabaya, Morano Abazi, loser, Matsumoto and Heliger Gibson winner. Those are both the U.C. Edmonton fights. Let's see. Melissa Martinez versus Shana Abandon. Battle of former Alice Ardellion opponents.

Again, dream big. You did four corner sports, right? No. Okay. Four corner sports, the fine gentleman who gave us a Lane versus Moeusman. I'm not sure anything more needs to be said, really. Come on. TAC MMA,

Font versus Cito Vera 2. It has been over two years, I think, since they fought. I could see it being booked. It's not like I wouldn't pick it. It's not like my pick, but would the UFC just do it to keep both guys busy and have two ranked guys on a main card? Maybe.

Yeah. But like that fight, that, that I wouldn't hate it. It was a good fight. It was just one of those things. Like if you want to talk about, I always look to Rob, those two Rob Fond fights

when we talk about how to judge fights and how stats don't always tell the story. It's Rob Fon versus Jose Aldo and it's Rob Fond versus Marl Mareh. Just go to UFC stats and look at the discrepancy in the strike numbers. Rob Font like triples up both of them in every round almost.

and loses. He got hit hard. He got hit real hard. Yeah. Significant strikes, I'm telling you. Some are more significant than others. And we'll close with Marcus McGahey. Going to the tried and true well, my best friend,

of throwing out random ass contender series names. So here we go. Cameron Smotherman, Malcolm Wellmaker. Melissa Martinez. Ooh, that's fun. Okay. So you know what? Malcolm, you're doing something right.

Malcolm is just a good get-or-get-get-got-all-stop. in the making. So I like, I've seen him fight live a couple of times. He's fun. Melissa Martinez, Alexia Tynera. And I can't help you with.

And a big money matchup, Mike. Let's close out, you know, let's close out on an Austin Lainer. Austin Lane and Mario Pinto. Thank you, Marcus, for those contender series picks.

Thank you everyone for sending your picks. Don't worry about sending in, sliding into our DMs this upcoming week, though. No, because I am. I'm so damn excited for UFC 308. I cannot wait for this card. Iliate Sopoere versus Max Holloway.

Robert Whitaker versus Hamzaa Chimae. Five round co-main event. Lorone Murphy versus Danny Gay. Magamette Ancolae versus Alexander Rackich. Shara Bullitt versus Armin Petrosian. Jeff Neal versus Haffieldos. The people's main event. Mick Debeck Oralbigh versus Batush Rebechki.

Sayyna Magamatov versus Daniel Santos. Abuse Magamadavar. versus Bruno Fahara. Oh my God. That is going to be vicious. Kennedy in Chichuku versus Chris Barnett, Farid Basharat versus Victor Hugo. Renat Fokrotinoff, new opponent,

Carlos Liyal, Ibo Asayan versus Rapiel Cirqueira, and Bruno Silva versus Ishmael Nardiev. That is UFC 308. Afternoon MMA is its finest. just 2 p.m. main card Eastern time, which is just horrific, which means the watch party is going to start at 150 p.m. Eastern time in command center 4.0. It's going to be very exciting stuff, AK. I can't wait. So which means we'll be live on on the next one on Sunday. We'll be at our most refreshed of the year. Please, Emma God, just keep Shamaev on this card. That's all I ask. somewhat selfishly, he's also on my fantasy team. But I just, the people, the people, People need this. If people like Shemayev, they want to see him fight. And Robert Whitaker deserves this fight. This is a great opportunity for Robert Whitaker, too. If he beat Shamaa, too, he's a great opportunity, which he very well could, he's going to get a title shot. Locked. Nothing's guarantee in the Ossie, but I would be very disappointed if he beat Shamae that fight doesn't get him and then Whitaker obviously should get the spot or something. He should get the winner of what we assume will be the, again, still to be booked rematch between Trichs-Dupacian and Strickland. Or if that fight doesn't get booked, then Whitaker obviously should get the spot against the rematch. with duplicacy.

So fingers crossed my, I'm crossed my fingers so hard. We are so close and yet so very, very, very, very, very far away from fight night. And when it comes to Hamzat, I just, I don't know,

I should have a Hamzat notification thing on somewhere or something because I'm just scared that it's not going to make it. Let's have confidence. Yes. Of course, of course. Let's get ready.

And let's, let's enjoy UFC 308 fight week. Of course, Jose will be there, boots on the ground. And I'm, like I said, I couldn't be more excited. So, Thank you all for listening back live next week following UFC 308.

Until then, for A.K.I. and Mike Heck, always remember the golden rule. Don't take this stuff too seriously. I'm a made supposed to be fun. And boy, oh, boy, we're going to have fun next week on on to the next one. The podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.